


Who Needs Sleep When We Have Sugar?

by Firekitten



Series: Golden Hummingbird [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: 100 Days of Taiqrow, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21529414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firekitten/pseuds/Firekitten
Summary: A sleepless night leaves Tai and Qrow contemplating the fragility of memory and the effort to preserve what is left now that Summer is gone.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Summer Rose/Taiyang Xiao Long, Qrow Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long
Series: Golden Hummingbird [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1494863
Comments: 4
Kudos: 58





	Who Needs Sleep When We Have Sugar?

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Fact: This chapter is the first I wrote. Originally, it was meant to be a one-shot as part of the 100 Days of Taiqrow series. I wanted to sprinkle in some OT3′s and well, like Trokia, when I got started I kind of just kept going.

The shattering of glass awoke Qrow immediately.

He jumped from the bed, hand already around his weapon and heart pounding with adrenalin as he sprinted down the dark hall. As he passed the girls’ room, where a sleepy Yang was poking her head out, he told her, “Stay in your room.”

He was down the stairs and in the living room within a matter of seconds, sword up and at the ready as he surveyed the room for any intruders. Zwei wasn’t in his bed – he’d have to talk to the girls again about not sneaking him up the stairs at night. Nothing else seemed disturbed though; all the windows were intact and the front door was still secure. The only thing that seemed out of place was the light spilling from underneath the kitchen door.

He tiptoed over to it, straining his hearing, picking up on the faint sound of movement. Footsteps. There _was_ someone inside the house! His mind whirled with tactics. Being an elite huntsman, he knew he could handle a small-time burglar, but he still knew better than to lower his guard to an enemy. If he caught them by surprise, he’d have the advantage.

He curled his hand down over the knob, all his muscles tense and ready to spring. He took a breath, counted down from three, and yanked the door open. He jumped onto the kitchen table with a war cry, “WHAT’RE YOU-”

He was interrupted by a yell and a broom being swung his way. He meant to block it, but his blade sheared right through the handle instead. By the time it was clattering on the ground, he’d gotten enough of his bearings to realize exactly who he was fighting.

“Uh. Hey Tai.” Qrow mumbled. In his field of vision, he also noticed that Zwei was scuttling about on the counter, looking for a way to get down.

Tai still had his dustpan up like a shield, and he scowled from around it. “What the hell Qrow?! You damn near gave me a heart attack!”

He lowered his sword, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “Uh, I heard something break so I thought, we were, uh… being broken into?”

“And yet you didn’t think that maybe it was me?” Tai asked.

“Well how was I supposed to know!”

“We share a bed!”

“I-!” He flushed brightly and sat down on the tabletop, huffing indignantly. “Well maybe if _some_ people weren’t scuttling around at 2AM!”

As Tai crouched to sweep up shards of glass with his newly compacted broom, he retorted, “Kettle, black.”

Qrow bit his tongue to keep himself from retaliating because he knew if they started talking about his drinking, they were going to fight. And if they fought, it would almost inevitably lead to them breaking things off between each other. _Again_.

He really didn’t want to have to deal with that in the middle of the night when he’d rather be sleeping. Rather, when they both _should_ be sleeping!

“You know we have work in like, five hours, right?” When that only earned him a listless ‘mmhmm’, he went from being annoyed, to worried. “Hey. You okay?”

Tai sighed, shaking his head. “Look, I don’t want to talk about it.”

Qrow had learned years ago to never let that slide. “Why not?”

“Because it’s – it’s stupid okay?”

“Stupider than what I just did?”

He glanced up at him, appraising him carefully. “Unfortunately, it takes a special kind of talent to have your brand of stupid.”

In reprimand, he nudged his shoulder with his foot. “Then I guess you _can_ tell me.” His leg was bat away with the broom handle. He waited, but when it was apparent he was just going to be ignored, he decided to break out his secret weapon: “Tai. Please.”

The sweeping slowed and then stopped. “It’s really nothing.” He finally said. “I just had a bad dream.”

Alarm bells started ringing throughout his head. “Again?”

“It wasn’t like the ones before.” He said quickly, giving him a faint smile. “Promise.”

Qrow eyed him skeptically. His partner didn’t tend to lie, but he did have a bad habit about downplaying the issue until it was too big to manage. It had run him ragged real fast during the height of his depression and the restless dreaming had been one of those cases. He would drag himself through the day, brushing off his waning energy, growing irritability and constant napping as nothing to be worried about. But when he couldn’t focus on even supervising his students, resulting in one of them not locking the safety on their rifle and accidentally shooting out the window, Tai finally had to come clean.

(“Why didn’t you tell me it was this bad?”

“Because things are hard enough as it is. And I – I don’t want you to look at me and eventually just see this big tangle of problems!”

“And who do you want me to see?”

“Someone you can count on.”

“Tai, you could have a million issues, and I’d still know that.”)

Still, that had been years ago, and things had eventually settled into something normal and their little family managed to find some solace – even despite the fact he and Tai couldn’t seem to stay together for more than a few weeks out of a year. When they were though, it was undeniable they both felt the gap between them where their third partner had once been.

So as he looked into Tai’s melancholy expression, Qrow didn’t bother to pussyfoot around it, “Was it about Summer?”

He averted his gaze, tilting the dustpan and watching all the glass slid to one side. “Yeah. It was pretty dumb. We were just trying to make cookies, but I couldn’t get any of the steps right. It was like I’d forgotten the whole thing. She was so mad at me; it was actually really cute.” He got to his feet so he could dump the dustpan.

Qrow watched him and for the first time he noticed all the ingredients spread across the kitchen counter. Flour, sugar, eggs, butter. He looked back to Tai, who was placing Zwei on the floor. “So you decided the best remedy was coming down here and proving her wrong?”

That one got a laugh. “Not exactly.” He hopped up onto the table beside him, close enough their shoulders brushed. “When I woke up, at first I didn’t think anything of it. But, as I tried to fall back asleep I kept thinking about it and I couldn’t stop. Because, I realized… I **_am_** forgetting things about her. I mean, I still know all the easy stuff.” He held up his hand ticking them off as he said them: “Her birthday. Her favorite color. How she likes her tea. But then,” His finger curled inward and he pressed the fist against his chest, “There’s the other stuff. Things I know I used to know but they’re just gone now. I knew it was bound to happen eventually but, it just feels so soon.”

Qrow glanced between the impromptu baking attempt and Tai, understanding dawning. This wasn’t about seeing if he could remember her recipe. It was about keeping Summer’s memory alive.

“I know I’m overreacting but, I started to worry; what if I forget the big things? Like her voice? Or the way her laugh sounded? Or her face?”

The last one made him snort, bumping his shoulder. “Don’t think that last one is much of a concern, since we have a literal mini-me version of her running around.” He lent back some, adding, “But I know what you mean. It’s like time’s erasing her. But you know what neither of us are ever going to forget?”

He looked over curiously. “What?”

“How much we loved her.”

Tai stared.

And then he just started laughing.

“W-What?! What’s so funny!” Qrow snapped.

“It’s just - hahaha! – you saying something sappy like that!”

He slapped his arm, feeling heat rising to his face. “Shut up man! Or I’ll remind you of our third anniversary and how you tried to serenade me and Sums.”

That shut him up quick, though he still couldn’t contain his grin. “Ah, what, singing wasn’t my _forte?_ ”

Qrow groaned. “Don’t.”

“Or perhaps it wasn’t _in tune_ to your interests?”

“ _Taaai_.”

Before he could think of another one, a tiny voice called, “Dad?”

A second one followed, “What are you guys doing on the table?”

They both looked over, seeing the girls both standing in the doorway with Zwei at their heels. It seemed Yang had determined that something awful must have happened, because she had her training gloves on and, to act as makeshift armor, she had tied pillows around her and Ruby’s bodies.

“Oh uh,” Qrow rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, should’ve come up to tell you everything was fine.”

Ruby came skipping in, looking disappointed. “Ahhh, but I wanted to fight for your honor!”

“My honor?” He repeated, amused.

“Yeah, the girl always has to fight for the guy’s honor.”

“I think that’s the other way around pipsqueak.”

“Nuh-huh, Yang said!”

Qrow looked over his shoulder, where Yang had clambered up onto the table. “Is that so?”

She shrugged, clinging onto her dad’s back. “It’s more interesting that way. So, what are you guys doing?”

He shared a look with his partner. Tai grinned, “Well, I was just thinking how nice it would be to pack some fresh cookies into your lunches tomorrow.”

Ruby lit up brighter than a holiday tree. “Cookies?!”

Though they were all going to be dead tired come morning, Qrow couldn’t help but join in, “Yeah and I was just about to help. Why don’t we all make them together?”

“Yeah!” Both girls cheered, Zwei joining in with a few loud yips.

Predictably, it turned into a nightmare of spilled flour, broken eggs, stolen chocolate chips and lots of loud laughter. As the house was filled with the sweet scent of baking cookies and the warmth of the oven, it was as if Summer’s presence was right there with them, hugging them as she laughed along.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt was 94: “I had a bad dream again” - I adjusted the exact wording.


End file.
